Okonkwo´s family is living in harmony. Okonkwo´s biological son Nwoye and his “adopted” son Ikemefuna are getting along well and Okonkwo teaches them how to behave and live like real men. The locusts arrive at the village in this chapter. The locusts are very rare and have not come for many years so the villagers are ecstatic when the locusts settle in Umuofia. However, this also marks the end of harmony in the Okonkwo´s family. The destiny of Ikemefuna has been decided; they are going to murder him because of the sins of his father. To calm down his family, Okonkwo says that Ikemefuna is going back home, but they realize that this is a lie. The wise man Ezeudo strongly advises Okonkwo from bearing a hand in Ikemefuna´s death, but Okonkwo does not listen. The men of Iguedo, including Okonkwo, walk a long way before they stop, and when they do, a tall man draws his machete. In fear, Ikemefuna runs to his father, but Okonkwo is afraid of looking weak so he draws his own machete and cuts Ikemefuna down.
For the next two days, Okonkwo cannot eat or sleep. He is completely shattered after Ikemefuna´s death. To take his mind off his bad conscience, Okonkwo decides to visit his friend Obierika. While he is there, Ofoeudu comes to visit and announces that Ogbuefi, a man in their village, has died. Okonkwo and Obierika are surprised that the ekwe (a hollowed instrument) has not gonged, which it always does when a man of the Umuofia clan dies. The reason is that his wife has died too, so they had to bury her before they could announce the man´s death. Wrapped up in the story, Okonkwo forgets that he should have left to tap his palm-trees. He suddenly remembers and leaves to do so. When he is done, he walks back to Obierika, he still can´t stop thinking about Ikemefuna. When he gets there, seven other men have arrived. They are discussing the bride price of Obierika´s daughter. While they discuss and drink palm-wine, they start to talk about the customs of other villages. For example, that in some villages the mother gets custody of the children, not the father. This is absurd to them.
On the third night after Ikemefuna´s death, Okonkwo managed to go to sleep. He was however awakened at night by his first wife Ekwefi. She brought the news that their only child, Ezinma, was very sick. Okonkwo rushed to her hut to save her. Ezinma´s mother, Ekwefi, had suffered a lot during the years. Of the ten times she had born a child, only once did the child survive. A story told was that her first baby was an Ogbanje, a child that after death, crawls back in the mother´s womb and is born again. An Ogbanje was believed to be an evil spirit that would bring misfortune. Ezinma was considered an Ogbanje because she was the first of ten children born that did not die in infancy. A year ago, Ezinma had performed a ritual that would break the curse. Everyone hoped that she would survive, as opposed to the other nine of Ekwefi ‘s children who had died. Back in their hut, Okonkwo had now made a boiling pot of medicine, of which Ezinma was to keep her head over. After a while she fell asleep.
Analysis:
When Okonkwo hears that Ikemefuna is going to be murdered, he decides to come along to not seem weak. He does this even though a wise and respected man of the clan had advised him not to. He also ends up killing Ikemefuna. This is described as something he thinks he must do to seem manly and tough. His friend Obierika on the other hand, refuses to accompany the men in the killing of Ikemefuna. What is interesting is that Obierika´s manliness never is questioned. It made me think that maybe Okonkwo´s fear of looking weak is not only because of the norms of the clan, but also because of his own expectations of how a man should behave. Okonkwo´s father was lazy and irresponsible, something Okonkwo had hated about him. He therefore tries to be the exact opposite, but my opinion is that he has failed miserably. The fact that he is a father figure to his sons and a man of the house is valuable, but his constant fear of weakness and affection completely destroys his relationships.
Ikemefuna´s death must have been shocking and a deep sorrow for Okonkwo´s children. Ikemefuna´s gentleness and sympathy had affected them to a great extent. For example, Ikemefuna convinced them once not to tell on their sister when she accidentally broke a pot. The siblings had started to become a team because of him! Ikemefuna´s qualities, and how they affect the people around him are something I had hoped to see a lot more of in the book, so him dying made me really disappointed. Hopefully, Okonkwo will find another way to learn to be gentler.
He shows however a more affectionate side of himself when he cares for his daughter when she is sick. The relationship between them is something that Okonkwo values, he has several times thought to himself that Ezinma is his favorite child. To read that his favorite child is a girl and not a boy is surprising to me because he always describes women as weak.
THINGS FALL APART 